Aggies Play for SEC Title at Ellis Field on Thursday

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 24 Texas A&M Aggies host the LSU Tigers in the regular-season finale at 7 pm on Thursday. The Maroon and White enter Thursday with a chance to win share of their first-ever SEC regular-season title. A win against LSU guarantees a title for the Aggies. A tie or loss would require assistance from outside parties to claim a title. The two teams enter the match headed in opposite directions. A&M has won eight of its last nine matches. LSU, which was in first place in the league ledger just over two weeks ago, has lost its last four matches and has fallen back to sixth place.

CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIOSIf the Aggies win... A win would give the Aggies 27 points in the SEC standings. A&M would claim an outright title if Florida loses or ties at Georgia on Thursday. The Aggies and Gators would share the title if Florida wins and the Gators would claim the No. 1 seed at the SEC Tournament.

If the Aggies tie... A tie would give the Aggies 25 points in the SEC standings. A Florida win over Georgia would give the Gators an outright title. A Florida tie would make A&M and the Gators co-champions and South Carolina could win a share of the title with a win home win against Kentucky on Thursday. A three-way tie with Florida and South Carolina would give A&M the No. 1 seed at the SEC Tournament. The Aggies would have the No. 1 seed in a two-way tie with South Carolina and Florida would have the No. 1 seed if the Aggies and Gators shared the title at 25 points.

If the Aggies lose... A loss would keep A&M at 24 points in the SEC standings. A win or tie by Florida and/or a win by South Carolina in their home match against Kentucky on Thursday would leave the Aggies without a share of the title. If Florida loses and Kentucky defeats South Carolina, the Gators, Wildcats and Aggies would be co-champions with Florida claiming the No. 1 seed, A&M taking the No. 2 seed and the Wildcats seeded at No. 3. If Florida loses and Kentucky and South Carolina play to a draw, the Aggies and Gators would share the title and Florida would claim the No. 1 seed.

FOLLOW THE ACTIONLive stats may be found at AggieAthletics.com. Thursday night’s match will be streamed at AggieAthletics.com. Every match this season will feature free live audio on RadioAggieland and AggieAthletics.com.

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UP NEXTThe Aggies travel to Orange Beach, Alabama for the SEC Tournament. Texas A&M will open play in the quarterfinal on Wednesday, November 6 against a yet-to-be-determined foe.

HIGH OCTANE OFFENSEEntering the weekend, the Aggies lead the SEC and rank 13th in the nation with 2.50 goals per match, with 45 goals on the year. A&M also ranks 14th the nation in points per game (7.06) with 127 in their 18 matches.

Individually, Karlie Mueller ranks second in the SEC and 11th NCAA Division I with 10 assists on the season. Her 0.56 assists per game ranks 22nd in the nation. Shea Groom ranks 34th in the nation with 0.69 goals per game with 11 goals in 16 matches. The mark also ranks fifth in the SEC.

SCORING SURGEAfter scoring 18 goals in the first nine matches of the season (2.00 gpm), the Aggies have erupted to tally 27 goals over the last nine (3.00 gpm), all in SEC play. The Aggies have scored at least three goals in five of the last nine matches, including eight against Mississippi State (8-0), four against Arkansas (4-3, ot) and three each against Vanderbilt (3-0), Auburn (3-1) and Alabama (3-0). Over the span, Allie Bailey leads the team in scoring with 14 points on five goals and four assists. Shea Groom has 13 points on five goals and three assists. Liz Keester has added four goals and one assist and Karlie Mueller has a team-high six assists during the run.

DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIOThe Aggies feature the most balanced offensive attack in the SEC. A&M is the only team in the league with four players to log at least six goals on the season. The Aggies are headlined by Shea Groom with 11 goals, followed by Liz Keester with seven goals and Allie Bailey and Kelley Monogue with six apiece. A&M is also the only SEC team with six players with at least 10 points on the season. Groom leads the Maroon and White with 25 points, followed by Keester (17), Bailey (16), Monogue (15), Bianca Brinson (12) and Karlie Mueller (10).

INAUGURAL SEC CAMPAIGN RESULTSIn their first season in the SEC, the Aggies went 10-2-1 and won the SEC Western Division crown, in the last season the league will recognize divisional champions, in 2012. Texas A&M posted shutouts in eight of its 13 league matches, including the first four of the season. The Maroon and White outscored league opponents 29-7 and went unbeaten on the road with a 5-0-1 ledger. The blemishes to the Aggies’ record were provided by Kentucky (T, 2-2), Florida (L, 2-1) and Tennessee (L, 1-0).

GUERRIERI RANKS AMONG THE NATION’S WINNINGEST COACHESTexas A&M head coach G Guerrieri ranks among the Top 10 in both winning percentage and victories among Division I coaches. With a career record of 367-117-26 (.745), he ranks seventh in winning percentage (minimum five years as a Division I head coach) and eighth in victories, passing SMU’s Chris Petrucelli during the 2012 campaign. Guerrieri is looking to make up ground on James Madison’s David Lombardo (370) and John Daly (369) who stand in sixth and seventh place, respectively, on the victories list.

LAST TIME OUT - FLORIDAThe Aggies dropped a 2-0 decision to Florida despite outshooting the Gators 15-11. Texas A&M had a perfect game plan for the Gators in the first half, holding Florida to just three shots, but the Aggies were unable to put any of their five shots in net. In the second half, Savannah Jordan slipped through A&M’s defense for a pair of goals. The Aggies were unable to put any of their 10 shots in goal.

SCOUTING LSUThe Tigers enter the contest licking their wounds after a four-match losing streak. Before the skid, LSU stood in first place in the SEC standings. The Tigers now find themselves tied for Georgia in sixth place. LSU is 9-7-2 overall and 5-4-1 in the SEC. LSU won league matches against Vanderbilt (2-1), Mississippi State (3-2), Arkansas (5-3), Alabama (2-1) and Missouri (1-0) and earned a tie against Tennessee (1-1). The current four-match losing streak includes losses to then-No. 24 Ole Miss (1-0), then-No. 9 Florida (3-0), Georgia (2-1) and then-No. 25 Kentucky (3-1). LSU won non-conference contests against Louisiana Tech (1-0), Louisiana-Monroe (6-0), then-No. 13 USC (1-0) and Rice (1-0). Non-conference league blemishes came against TCU (T, 0-0), then-No. 6 BYU (L, 4-2), Minnesota (L, 2-1) and Stephen F. Austin (L, 4-0). Summer Clarke leads the squad with 19 points on eight goals and three assists. Emma Fletcher has a team-high 11 assists and has one goal for 13 points. Megan Kinneman has played 1,682 of the 1,688 minutes in goal for the Tigers and boast a 1.44 goals-gainst average, 27 saves and six shutouts on the year.

SERIES VS. LSUThe Aggies are 2-0-1 all-time against the Tigers. A&M first met LSU in Baton Rouge in the 2009 NCAA Championship. The squads played to a 1-1 tie through two overtimes, but A&M advanced to the next round winning the PKs 4-2. They met again in the NCAA Championship in 2011, with A&M hosting the match. The Aggies won that contest 4-0 with current Aggies Kelley Monogue, Meghan Streight and Annie Kunz all scoring goals in the win. Jordan Day only needed to make one save in the shutout. In 2012, the Aggies played their first-ever SEC league game against LSU in Baton Rouge. The Aggies won 1-0, with the lone goal coming from Rachel Lenz on a header off a corner kick. Day recorded another shutout, this time making three saves.

TICKET INFORMATIONIndividual tickets for the 2013 home season are now for sale. To purchase tickets, please contact the 12th Man Foundation Ticket Center at tickets.12thmanfoundation.com, 979-845-2311 or toll free at 1-888-99-AGGIE. Tickets are also available in person beginning one hour before the match at Ellis Field.